Marlins edge Cubs
(Wire) - With the Chicago Cubs at the top
of the NL Central, the Wrigley Field faithful have been some of the
loudest fans in baseball. Jeremy Hermida managed to quiet them with one
swing of the bat.
Hermida hit a pinch-hit home run to lead off the ninth inning, helping
the Florida Marlins to a 3-2 win over the Cubs on Friday.
Hermida came in for catcher Paul Hoover, who had struck out his first
three times up, and launched a Bobby Howry pitch over the right field
wall to put Florida ahead. The announced crowd of 41,570 at the friendly
confines was silenced, as Chicago dropped to 38-13 at home.
“To quiet those fans takes a lot,” Hermida said. “It’s a fun place to
play all around. Real passionate fans and they back their players better
than any fans around. It was fun to go out there and do something like
that and quiet them down.”
Hermida, who has come off the bench in each of the last two games,
snapped an 0-for-9 slump with his 13th homer of the season.
Justin Miller (3-2) earned the win by getting the final two outs in the
eighth inning, and Kevin Gregg earned his 21st save by pitching a
perfect ninth.
The Marlins finished with only six hits Friday, but still improved to
4-4 since the All-Star break.
Howry (3-4) was saddled with the loss, after Hermida’s home run on a 3-2
pitch. Geovany Soto and Reed Johnson hit solo homers for the Cubs, who
fell to 3-5 since the break.
Chicago’s Jeff Samardzija, the former Notre Dame football star, made his
major league debut after being called up from Triple-A Iowa before the
game.
Samardzija came in to protect a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but couldn’t
hold it.
With two outs, Jorge Cantu doubled in Hanley Ramirez to tie the score,
but Samardzija avoided any further damage by getting Mike Jacobs to pop
up to second baseman Mike Fontenot.
His second inning went smoother, as he retired the side in order. He
ended up allowing one run and two hits with two strikeouts in two
innings.
“I felt really good coming out for that second inning. My mechanics came
together a little more,” Samardzija said. “My whole goal here was to go
out and throw well and give confidence to the coaches that they can
throw me out there in any situation.”
Samardzija received a standing ovation—his first of many—when he took
the mound, and the crowd cheered when he struck out pinch-hitter Alfredo
Amezaga to lead off the seventh.
While he showed some wildness—badly missing Soto on a pitch out—he also
displayed a fastball that was clocked at 99 mph on the stadium radar
gun.
Cubs starter Ryan Dempster tired during a hot day at Wrigley.
He opened the second inning by hitting Dan Uggla, who had been hitless
in his previous 13 at-bats. Josh Willingham made Dempster pay by
doubling to right-center field to score Uggla.
Dempster allowed two hits and struck out six, but walked a season-high
six in six innings. In the fifth, Dempster got the first two men out
before walking the bases loaded. He then struck out Uggla to get out of
the jam.
Florida starter Josh Johnson also tired in his third start of the season
after undergoing elbow surgery on Aug. 3.
Johnson overpowered the Cubs early, striking out four of the first five
batters before Soto hit his 17th home run of the season in the second
inning.
Johnson matched a career high with eight strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings. He
gave up two runs and seven hits with three walks.
“He wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen him before, but this is I think his
third start and he gave us all he had and he battled,” Marlins manager
Fredi Gonzalez said.
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